Verse 1. "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord " - The Lord is the only ruler of princes. He alone can govern and direct their counsels. But there is an allusion here to the Eastern method of watering their lands.

Several canals are dug from one stream; and by opening a particular sluice, the husbandman can direct a stream to whatever part he please: so the king's heart, wherever it turns; i.e., to whomsoever he is disposed to show favour. As the land is enriched with the streams employed in irrigation; so is the favourite of the king, by the royalbounty: and God can induce the king to give that bounty to whomsoever he will. See Harmer.

Verse 2. "The Lord pondereth the hearts. " - Every man feels strongly attached to his own opinions, modes of acting, &c.; and though he will not easily give up any thing to the judgment of a neighbour, whom he will naturally consider at least as fallible as himself, yet he should consider that the unerring eye of God is upon him; and he should endeavour to see that what he does is acceptable in the eye of his Maker and Judge.

Verse 3. "To do justice and judgment " - The words of Samuel to Saul. See note on 1 Sam. xv. 23.

"And the ploughing " - rn ner, lucerna, the lamp, the prosperity and posterity of the wicked; is sin-it is evil in the seed, and evil in the root evil in the branch, and evil in the fruit. They are full of sin themselves, and what they do is sinful.

Verse 6. "Of them that seek death " - Instead of yqbm mebakshey, "them that seek," several MSS., some ancient editions, with Symmachus, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Arabic, have yqm mokeshey, the snares. He who gets treasures by a lyingtongue, pursuesvanity into the snares of death. Our common translation may be as good. But he who, by the snares of his tongue, endeavours to buy and sell to the bestadvantage, is pursuing what is empty in itself; and he is ensnared by death, while he is attempting to ensnare others.

Verse 7. "The robbery of the wicked " - The wicked shall be terrified and ruined by the means they use to aggrandize themselves. And as they refuse to do judgment, they shall have judgment without mercy.

Verse 9. "In a corner of the housetop " - A shed raised on the flat roof. - a wide house; rbj tyb beith chaber, "a house of fellowship;" what we should call a lodging-house, or a house occupied by several families. This was usual in the East, as well as in the West. Some think a house of festivity is meant: hence my old MS. Bible has, "the hous and feste".

Verse 13. "Whoso stoppeth his ears " - See the conduct of the priest and Levite to the man who fell among thieves; and let every man learn from this, that he who shuts his ear against the cry of the poor, shall have the ear of God shut against his cry. The words are quite plain; there is no difficulty here.

This passage intimates that those called rephaim are in a state of conscious existence. It is difficult to assign the true meaning of the word in several places where it occurs: but it seems to mean the state of separate spirits, i.e., of those separated from their bodies, and awaiting the judgment of the great day: but the congregation may also include the fallen angels. My old MS. Bible translates, "The man that errith fro the wei of doctrine, in the felowschip of geantis schal wonnen".

Verse 17. "He that loveth pleasure " - That follows gaming, fowling, hunting, coursing, &c., when he should be attending to the culture of the fields, shall be a poor man; and, I may safely add, shall be so deservedly poor, as to have none to pity him.

Verse 18. "The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous " - God often in his judgments cuts off the wicked, in order to prevent them from destroying the righteous. And in general, we find that the wicked fall into the traps and pits they have digged for the righteous.

Verse 22. "A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty " - Wisdom is in many respects preferable to strength, even in the case of defense. See what skill does in the fortification and reduction of strong places.

Verse 25. "The desire of the slothful killeth him " - He desires to eat, drink, and be clothed: but as he does not labour, hence he dies with this desire in his heart, envying those who possess plenty through their labour and industry. Hence he is said to covetgreedily all the day long, ver. 26, while the righteous, who has been labourious and diligent, has enough to eat, and some to spare.

Verse 27. "When he bringeth it with a wicked mind? " - If such a person even bring the sacrifices and offerings which God requires, they are an abomination to him, because the man is wicked; and if such offerings be imperfect in themselves, or of goods ill-gotten, or offered by constraint of custom, &c., they are doubly abominable.

Verse 29. "He directeth his way " - Instead of yky yachin, he directeth, upwards of fifty of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., several ancient editions with some of the versions, read yby yabin, he understands; and because he understands his way, he is able to direct himself in walking in it.